


Even the moon shines with only half a heart

by ac_MaryAgnes



Category: Little Red Riding Hood (Fairy Tale)
Genre: Comic Prompt, Gen, Other, it's all implied, non sequitur, nothing graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 20:12:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5429273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ac_MaryAgnes/pseuds/ac_MaryAgnes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The girl continued to shiver. As she listened to the girl’s broken and rasping voice recount her tale, Cora shivered, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Even the moon shines with only half a heart

Cora sat in front of the fire, watching the girl as she shivered. Her little face was haggard and worn even after the warm shower she’d taken. Fresh, warm clothes swallowed her shaking frame. Cora had wrapped a thick afghan snug around the child’s thin shoulders after settling her in front of the fire. Nothing seemed to help. The girl continued to shiver. As she listened to the girl’s broken and rasping voice recount her tale, Cora shivered, too.

This little girl, this little Ruby, had landed on Cora and Benji’s doorstep in the middle of winter wearing little more than summer clothes and no shoes to speak of. There was fear in her eyes and a tragic weariness that no one so young should carry. Cora and Benji had done what they could to make her comfortable while she rested. Benji came in from the kitchen, a bowl of last night’s stew in his hands for the girl as she continued talking.

She told them about pretty spring flowers along a forest path, a stranger with a kind voice, and a short cut to her grandmother’s house. Little Ruby spoke of an old woman who wasn’t old or a woman but a monster in her grandmother’s place. She told them about eyes that burned and claw-like fingers and teeth that tore like fangs. Nightmares in closets and under the bed and the dark - that terrible, horrible dark that was everywhere and touched everything, swallowing it whole. Swallowing Ruby whole. 

Ruby sat and trembled as she confessed that she couldn’t quite remember how she escaped. There had been blood staining her hands, under her fingernails and trailing from cuts in her feet. Her eyes were haunted and dry as she recounted her tale, too numb to do much more than stare at the floor.

Benji waited until the child was finished speaking before he made his way towards them and crouched down next to his wife, big shoulders hunching a little to make himself seem smaller. He set the bowl of stew in front of the girl, careful not to get too close. She had come to them for safety and he had no wish to frighten her further.

“You eat that, Ruby,” he told her, his usually loud, booming voice softened to a gruff murmur. “I have something I need to go do, but Cora’s going to take care of you. When I get back, we’ll see about getting you home to your mother.”

Cora looked at her husband, but he said nothing more as he went to the hall closet for his boots and his overcoat. She tracked him as he grabbed his hunting rifle from the rack on the wall, and his work axe from its place beside the front door.

“Benji?” she asked gently, not wanting to worry Ruby unnecessarily. The man shook his head, loading his weapon with quick and sure movements. Extra ammunition was stored in his pockets just in case.

“There’s been a wolf in our woods, Cor,” he told her, still trying to keep his voice quiet. “It’s time someone put it down. I’ll be back soon.”

With that, he was gone, shutting the door firmly behind him. Cora shut her eyes tight and sent up a prayer for her husband’s safety, then turned back to the girl still huddled in front of her.

“It’s okay, Ruby,” she reassured, seeing that the child hadn't moved towards the stew but eyed it warily. “You can eat if you’re hungry. And if you don’t like it, I can go get something else for you.”

Small pale hands shook as they left the warm blanket she was wrapped in and grasped the bowl tightly. Ruby held it close, as if she were afraid it’d be taken away. Cora shut her eyes again, this time fighting back tears, and hoped her Benji destroyed that foul, loathsome monster.

**Author's Note:**

> Wiley Miller, creator of the American comic 'Non Sequitur', occasionally publishes comic panels that have no story with them. The goal of these, he says, is to inspire the reader to create a background and a story themselves. The link for the panel this story is based off of is here: http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2015/02/08
> 
> The title comes from Jane Kenyon's 'Taking Down the Tree'.


End file.
